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Monday, March 31, 2014

Usually, when I get a call from a
stranger who asks for someone else and I say, "Sorry, you have the
wrong number," the person on the other end of the line just hangs up on
me, showing off their excellent social skills and phone manners. I'd
rather have the experience shared in Kristen Tracy's new novel Hung Up, where a wrong number leads to a really cool friendship.

Lucy
calls what she thinks is a trophy place and leaves a brief message. She
doesn't get a response. A few days later, she calls and leaves another
message. No response. Another call. No response. Naturally, she grows
increasingly frustrated with each call. Two weeks later, someone finally
picks up when she calls - only it's not the engraver. It's James, a guy
Lucy's age who got a recycled number from a phone company. He
apologizes for the confusion and wishes her luck tracking down her
order.

A week later, James calls Lucy and leaves her a message.
Over the course of the next two months, the teenagers keep in touch. At
first, they communicate solely over the phone, without meeting
face-to-face. They become friends and share funny things that happened
to them during the day as well as more personal anecdotes.

Sometimes, you just need to hear the voice of someone that cares about you - and sometimes, you just need to be heard.

Instead
of using your typical narrative form, this story is told in a series of
voicemails and phone conversations, making for a quick read. With only
two characters speaking, you really see (and hear) the world through
their words, because all you have to go on is what they say. The dialogue is great, very snappy and fun. There's serious stuff there, too. The
book ends at the perfect moment. I'd compare that moment to a similar
moment in another book I read recently, but that would give too much
away.

I enjoy Kristen Tracy's books because they are always full of dramedy, and I love dramedies1 because that's what life is, a mix of comedy and drama - and that's what Hung Up is. And it's great. So you should read it, and we should talk about it, okay? Give me a call later when you're done.

1. Ask me about the TV show Leverage sometime. I really love that show.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Writing for children is harder than it looks, so I especially
appreciate it when an adult fiction author can also write successfully
for kids. Take, for instance, Neil Gaiman. He writes epic fantasy for
adults, he writes lushly illustrated abecedarians -- but his sweet spot,
arguably, is spooky bildungsromans for the tween set (think Coraline
and The Graveyard Book).

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Alif is a young hacker in an unnamed and repressive Arab oil emirate. He lives with his overworked single mom, making a meager living as a freelance coder. He's not political: he sells his skill to democracy activists, Islamic revolutionaries, artists, dissidents, and pornographers alike. He's in love with an aristocratic young woman whose parents have promised her to a prince. He's despised because of his biracial Arab-Indian parentage. All of which sounds pretty crummy, but Alif has managed to carve out an almost-happy life amid pretty sucky circumstances.

And then: everything breaks down.

He's targeted by "The Hand," the government's cybersecurity force, which might be a computer program and might be an actual person... and might be something else entirely. Desperate to help his clients and save himself, he turns to the disreputable gangster Vikram the Vampire (my own favorite character in the book, who is not, in fact, a vampire, but who is not, in fact, entirely human). Vikram takes him underground.

Well, underground might not be the right word for it. Alif and his devout, veiled friend Dina follow Vikram into the Empty Quarter, a strange and secret world that is not so much beneath our own, as beside it. The Empty Quarter is the domain of the jinn - monsters, spirits, genies, and demons. It's familiar - it even has Wifi - but it's also very very strange. And that's when the book gets really interesting.

Shenanigans ensue. Alif is betrayed. He is captured. He is tortured. He is imprisoned. He is liberated, by one of his democracy-activist clients - who happens to be a prince, 27th in line for the throne, who is disgusted by the injustice his privilege is built upon. He goes up against The Hand. He finds love. And his actions just might help catalyze a revolution.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

A tragedy that stunned the nation. A terrible crime. The kind of event that when people are asked where they were or what they were doing when they found out, they remember for a lifetime. A president gunned down in the middle of the street.

Swanson introduces us to the Kennedy's and includes a number of details about what it was like to grow up as a Kennedy - their lifestyle, their dedication to the service of this country and their efforts to be major players in U.S. politics. The author describes the political climate in which Kennedy was elected first as a member of the House of Representatives, then a Senator and ultimately, by the narrowest of margins, the of President of the United States.

Swanson also introduces us to the man that would kill Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald. We are given a glimpse of what Oswald's life was like as the author details his failed military career, his failed move to the Soviet Union and his failed marriage to his Soviet bride. As a result, we are shown the state of his mental well being in the years and days leading up to the assassination. His desire to be more than who he was. To be famous - or more maybe more appropriately infamous.

The book includes several pictures from the time including Kennedy family pictures, political and press photos and stills taken from a video shot during the assassination. The President Has Been Shot! is a really great nonfiction book, for late elementary school (and later) students, detailing a very difficult time in our nation's history.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Nick is used to being the new kid at school. After all, this is the fifth time in the past few years he's gone through this.

New school.

New town.

New identity.

Four years ago, back when Nick was still just a kid named Tony and living in Philadelphia, his father worked for a gangster, handling Kreso Maric's money. But his father snitched on Maric, who soon disappeared, and Nick's family has been in the Witness Protection program ever since. They've been relocated, again, this time to the rundown town of Stepton, where "[t]here was a chemical plant on the edge of town, its thick stacks sticking up over trees like a giant chain-smoker's cigarettes. They pumped storm clouds and gave the air a scent you could taste."

And in Stepton, it's not just the air that's polluted. Crimes don't seem to be taken seriously. Nick's dad gets caught up in some mysterious, secretive business--not for the first time--but this one's got him nervous. Spooked.

It's called Whispertown, this mysterious project that has Nick's dad--no stranger to furtive plots--so nervous. Eli, Nick's classmate and maybe his first friend in Stepton, is investigating Whispertown but refuses at first to tell Nick about it. Later, Nick realizes, "Of all the places I'd been, all the kids I met, [Eli] was the first to ever ask me to be a part of anything. Mostly, people were scared that I'd come to their school to take something from them. Their girl, or their spot on the team, or whatever attention they craved." But by then Eli is dead and it's left to Nick and Eli's sister to uncover the truth about what really happened to Eli.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Bat­tle of Ther­mopyla by Steven Press­field is a his­tor­i­cal novel that recounts the Bat­tle of Ther­mopy­lae. The book was pub­lished in 1998.

The Per­sian army, two mil­lion men strong, is march­ing onto Greece.
The Greeks have deployed a small army, 4,000 — 7,000 men against the
Per­sians and chose to make their stand at the geo­graph­i­cally
advan­ta­geous Ther­mopy­lae. Lead­ing the Greeks are 300 Spar­tans who
hope to delay the army enough for Greece to get together a defense plan.
They know that is a sui­cide mission.

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Bat­tle of Ther­mopylae by
Steven Press­field is an epic book, the style is sharp, the story
vivid, the his­tory pretty accu­rate, and the moral dilem­mas are still
rel­e­vant in today's mil­i­tary units.

I loved to read about the prob­lems fac­ing the Spar­tan King and his
army com­man­ders, the sol­diers and their ser­vants. The books is a
fic­tional account of those who are about to die, know it, and still go
for­ward con­tem­plat­ing life's big mys­ter­ies and gain­ing
appre­ci­a­tion for their com­rades, and those they left behind.

I truly enjoyed the fact that the author pays atten­tion to his­tory
and imag­ines what it would have been like for his pro­tag­o­nists to
pre­pare for bat­tle and death. Mr. Press­field under­stands the notions
of honor in the con­text of ancient Greece and writes about it in a
mov­ing, seri­ous way.

The book does not glo­rify bat­tles, in fact there is much mis­ery,
stench and car­nage on the bat­tle­field. If any­thing, glory in bat­tle
is rewarded after the fact, not during.

The close broth­er­hood of the Spar­tan sol­diers is some­thing the
author focuses on through­out the novel. If you are, or were in a close
knit com­bat unit, this book will bring back mem­o­ries. If you were
not, but ever wan­dered what makes the men click, this one is for you

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Twelve year-old Kester Jaynes has
a big problem, - he can’t speak. Even worse, he doesn’t know why he can’t speak. The only thing he knows is that he
hasn’t been able to say a word since his mother’s death six years ago. Not only that, he’s locked up
in a home for troubled children for reasons also unknown to him. Oh, and just
to throw another wrench in the gears, the outside world has all but completely
fallen apart. It’s been ravaged by global warming and a disease called “the
red-eye,” which has rendered all but a few animals extinct and threatens humans
with the same fate.

So, locked up, depressed, scared
out of his wits, Kester is at the bottom of the barrel. Scratch that, he’s
fallen through the bottom of the barrel into a pit of…well I was going to say
poisonous snakes, but they’re all extinct.

Then
one day while alone in his cell, Kester hears someone talking to
him. It is then that he realizes it isn’t someone but something. Yes,
Kester realizes that it is a cockroach that’s speaking to him and that they can
communicate.Not only that, Kester soon
learns that he can “talk” to other animals in his cell.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Beyond Magentais an incredible look into the minds, lives, and struggles of LGBTQ teens.

Each chapter profiles a person who has struggled with gender identity, and ultimately is transgender. They were born as one "sex", but identified with the other, and so the gender they were expected to express was not the gender they were comfortable presenting. The chapters are about very different people.

When I picked up the book I wasn't expecting just what I got. I was expecting the author's narrative on the lives of these people. I was expecting to hear from an outside observer what these kids' lives had been like.

The transition from kid to teen is hard for some. Relationships change and you begin to relate differently to your parents and to your friends and for some this is cause for major stress. Alex is a regular seventh grader whose life changes the day he sees a vision from heaven in the form of a new Haitian student called Bijou.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

I should start by saying that I had to wait my turn to read the advanced review copy of this graphic novel, because a certain 13-year old wrestling fan I know divested me of it just after it arrived. A non-reader, J finished it in one sitting and really didn't want to take a break for dinner, even. High praise indeed.

If you are a WWE wrestling fan, or seen the movie The Princess Bride, then you've probably heard of André the Giant. This graphic novel relates the story of his rise as a wrestler while dealing with debilitating physical issues. André never really stopped growing, thanks to the condition known as acromegaly, and he was told early on in his career that he'd be lucky to live to age 40.

The book is an unsentimental look at André's life, including some of the less pleasant aspects of it: how he was picked on or taunted throughout his life, how difficult travel was for him, how much he ate and drank (hint: a lot), and how he was sometimes a great friend, and sometimes fell short.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Even if you think Iambic Pentameter is the name of an
Imperial Stormtrooper (and it totally should be), you will still enjoy William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh
Back, Ian Doescher’s second book in the Shakespearean Star Wars series. But
the true measure of your enjoyment can be gauged by this two-item quiz:

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Back to my "comfort zone" with UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi. This book was a complete and total surprise. I found the premise intriguing enough
that I downloaded the book (I think it was an Amazon deal) but the
execution was terrific. Rossi does a ton of stuff that I like as a
reader and am insanely jealous of as a writer.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

I think we must love to read about dystopian futures
because they allow us to imagine the unimaginable and shiver in the dark while
feeling grateful that things aren’t quite that bad. The thing I dislike most about
dystopian literature is this way that our horrible future is so engrossing, we
forget to ask how we ended up there. Cristin Terrell's All
Our Yesterdays takes that dare and explores the possibility of using the
past to change the future.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Pierce Brown's Red Rising is a little like Ender's Game in that it involves children's brutal training for war. It's also like the Percy Jackson series in its obsession with Greek and Roman myth and history. It's also like The Hunger Games in that it pits children against each other in deadly games and it's like Game of Thrones with its rivalries between powerful families and it's like Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series in its exploration of power and body modification. If someone accused Pierce Brown and his publisher of trying to capitalize on every trend in YA fiction this side of wizards and werewolves, you might just have to concede the point.

Yet, while the book is somewhat like all of these other books and is a bit jumbled as a result, it's not exactly like any of them. After a somewhat rough opening, the novel settles in and ultimately works better than expected. It also sets up a series that promises to be intriguing.